Interrogate’s Ash Bolland: The Aussie director igniting Nintendo desire throughout the world

June 12, 2018

Interrogate director, Ash Bolland, has found fame on the YouTube leaderboard. His video for Nintendo Switch’s Play Together Anytime, Anywhere summer campaign, made with Leo Burnett Chicago, rocketed to 1.6 million plus views, making it one of the world’s favourite videos this month.

The fast-paced demo captures the thrill of Nintendo Switch for gamers and underscores its versatility, with its quick-cut glimpses of the best of Nintendo’s titles being played with family or friends at the beach, on the road, on a plane – anytime, anywhere.

Bolland had already impressed Nintendo. He has also directed its Nintendo E3 spot Switch On Your Fire and last year’s Nintendo Switch – SuperBowl commercial, Nintendo’s debut appearance during SuperBowl’s coveted air time. The ad was ranked #4 in Ace Matrix’ analysis of new content ads for the Super Bowl (rating higher than ads by Kia, Skittles and Honda). The spot also helped then emerging band, Imagine Dragons, enter the international spotlight. The band’s track went viral following the campaign’s release.

Before this, Bolland worked directly with Nintendo in Seattle and Japan on the 2016 launch campaign of Nintendo Switch. The work was lauded by US comic, Jimmy Fallon, as “the ad he watched a million times” when he introduced the new game on The Tonight Show. The spot has since racked up 36 million hits so far on YouTube.

Bolland commented, “It’s been a really lovely collaborative process working with the brand itself and with the agency teams. From the idea’s genesis and scriptwriting through to shooting over the past few years, the entire process has allowed us to develop a fresh new direction.

“Before I came on board, Nintendo was traditionally targeting a younger audience. Over the years we’ve worked hard to establish and define an updated identity with broader appeal, one more authentic and grounded. I’m pleased to say it has been really well received by gamers, an audience who can be quite tribal and discerning. Getting this tonally right was extremely important to us.

“At this stage of my career, I enjoy working closely with creatives to develop the tone for a piece as a collective process. Rather than acting solo to create, I feel it’s important not to work in a vacuum. Our medium thrives on collaboration.”

Interrogate executive producer, Tara Riddell, added “For a director to be working globally on such a prolific brand has been a real achievement – it’s quite rare that a brand will work alongside the one director for so long. As a company, we are focusing more on developing narrative-driven content for our clients. We have some exciting long form being released later this year across theatrical and web view. Ash certainly helps bolster this approach with his extensive experience.”